


Ineffably Yours

by FifiMae



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (for now) - Freeform, (very minor), 1910s, 1940s, 1950s, A.U, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ball, Ballroom Dancing, Crossover, Crossover A.U, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dancing, Davenport is an angel, Drinking, Fancy Dress Party, Fellas is it gay to slow dance with your hereditary enemy?, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Merle has a flower shop, Merle is a demon, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, Pining Merle, Prohibition, Self-Doubt, Slow Burn, Song Lyrics, Song: I don't what to set the world on fire (The Ink Spots), Star Gazing, Street Racing, TAZ/Good Omens Au, Time Skips, Unrequited Love, dance, speakeasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27154909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FifiMae/pseuds/FifiMae
Summary: Merle is a demon who doesn’t like being a demon, but still does his job as adequately as possible while staying out of hell as much as possible, one day he gets assigned to make an angel fall, so he takes him to his flower shop for a few drinks, however, when he gets to know the angel, he realizes that he likes him doesn’t want him to fall, so he lies to his boss saying that he’s still working on his assignment while continuing to be the angel’s friend, but even he knows he can’t lie to them foreverDavenport is an angel that does everything by the book, but life doesn’t always go the way you want, after a failed mission and an earful from his boss, all he wants to do is drown his failure in whatever bathtub gin the bar has, but when a demon walks into the same bar offering him real alcohol, he’s skeptical at first, but goes along with him anyway, after a night of drinking and opening up, he becomes quite fond of the demon, however, he knows that upstairs wouldn’t like the idea of an angel and a demon being friends, so he hides it from his boss, though even he knows that he can’t hide it forever
Relationships: Davenport/Merle Highchurch
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A few things before we get into the story, first and foremost, this first chapter has a lot of drinking, a long discussion of a man whose life is destroyed by his alcoholism, discussion of traumatic events, and mentions of sex, context warnings will be tagged with there respected chapters.   
> Second, this isn’t a ‘Characters A and B are replaced by characters C and D,’ type of crossover au, this takes place at the same time as the Good Omens mini series but taking place in Piedmont, West Virginia and with everyone’s favorite short fantasy dads, the first five chapters will show their relationship thru the decades (10’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s) and the rest will be them dealing with the armageddon coming plus their own drama, which will probably be about three chapters, anyway, with all that being said, enjoy my self-indulgent au fic nobody asked for.

* * *

In the beginning, God created everything, well, that’s a bit of an overstatement, in reality, God created Her angles, and together they created the universes, some created the stars and galaxies, others worked on the planets that inhabited those galaxies, most were working on Gods new pet project, a small planet in the milky way galaxy called Earth, filled with all kinds of new things like plants and animals, as well as Gods newest creation, humans, kinda like angels but without magic, everything was going great, until a group of angels, led by one of God's favorites angels Lucifer, began to rebel, soon war broke out, some sided with God, others sided with Lucifer, in the end, good triumph over evil (at least that’s how most see it) and Lucifer, as well as all those that followed him and survived the war, were cast out of heaven in fell into hell, where they became demons, eventually Earth was finished, and God sent Adam and Eve to live there in Eden, at least until Eve ate the apple from the sacred tree, but that was just the beginning, as heaven and hell were planning another war, a rematch if you will, taking place 6,000 from then, which will mean the end of the world and all who inhabit it.

**5,900 years later**

**September 29, 1919**

A demon walks thru the dark, crowded and disgusting hallways of hell, trying his best to avoid the other demons, he’s on the shorter side, only 5’0 but with a stocky build, with warm brown skin covered in light brown spots, grey hair and a short beard with white streaks (if you would look closely at the beard you would see it was a bunch of feathers), and big hazel eyes made bigger by a pair of coke bottle glasses, he's wearing a hunters green dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up showing off the rose and vines tattoos up his right arm under a dark grey waistcoat, a pair of black baggy dress pants, and a pair of black dress shoes, he gets to his destination and knocks on the door.

“Come in” the voice on the other end says, the demon walks in, “ah, Merle, ‘bout time you showed up,” Lord Beelzebub, The Lord Of The Flies, says behind their desk.

The demon, Merle, internally rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, so what you need from me, your awfulness?” he asks rather impatient, wanting to get out of this dingy place, earth may not be perfect, but at least is not as dark and gross as hell, (at least most of it is,)

Beelzebub grumbles under their breath, “I have a job for you, there’z this angel on earth that I want you to make fall,”

Merle looks at them confused, “Ok, why exactly?”

“Armageddon iz coming and we need all the help we can get if we're gonna beat heaven,”

“Despite the fact that we have more demons down here then they have angels up there?”

“That may be true but angels are stronger than demonz, so we need all the manpower we can get”

“Fair enough, but why me, of all demons, do I have to do it?”

Beelzebub glares at him, getting tired of his constant backchat, “because it just so happenzzz that the angel in question hazz been stationed in the same town that you’ve been live in for the past decade, pluz it would make you uzzzeful for once,” the last thing they say under their breath, though Merle hears it anyway.

“Fine, I’ll do it, whatever,”

Beelzebub smirks, “Good, now hearz his file,” they hand him a stained manila folder, “he frequents a place called North End Tavern And Brewery, he should be there tonight, I hope it won't take to long,”

Merle takes the folder and opens it, seeing his name, Davenport, information on him, and a (rather poor quality) picture of him, he closes the folder and puts it under his arm, “Cool, now can I go? I got better stuff to do,”

Beelzebub sighs, “Yezz, you may leave,” Merle turn heel and leaves the room,

* * *

Merle walks up to North End Tavern And Brewery, specifically the back entrance, he knocks on the door and the slot on the door opens.

“What’s the password?” the voice on the other end asks.

“I don’t need a password,” Merle says, casting a demonic Mericle.

The slot closes and the door unlocks and opens, “Have a good time, sir”

Merle walks downstairs into the tavern, now a speakeasy, and has a look around, a pretty normal bar, some tables and chairs scattered around the main area, booths by the wall, and a bar with chairs, where he sees his target, he walks over to the bar to get a closer look at him, he looks to be his height though with a slimmer build, and has ivory skin with freckles, orange slick back hair with a nice handlebar mustache and goatee, and is wearing a navy blue suit and black shoes, Merle doesn’t often see angels wear any other color than white, but a little true sight reveals that he is indeed an angel, he gets to the bar, “This set taken’?” he asks the angel, who turns to him and makes a ‘go ahead’ gesture, Merle sits down at the bar and notes that the angel is holding a burden glass with some kind of clear alcohol in it, “Hey, bartender?” Merle calls out, the bartender turns to him, “Give me the same thing this guy has,” the bartender nods, pours a glass, and passes it to Merle, “So, got a name, skipper?”

The angel turns to him, “Davenport,” he says, and Merle almost doesn’t hear him as he’s taken aback by his eyes, his file said that his eyes were green but that was only the half of it, they’re the most beautiful shade of leaf green he has ever seen, and they have flecks of gold around the pupil, and this close he sees that his freckles were also speckles of gold dusted along his cheeks, nose, and forehead that shine like glitter in the bar light, Merle has never seen a more beautiful man.

Merle realizes that he’s staring, “So, what's an angel like you doing in a place like this?”

Davenport rolls his eyes a little, “Just trying to get a drink after work, just had my monthly evaluation and my boss gave me a real earful,” he sighs, “You follow every rule, you do everything by the books, but then something happens that was way out of your control and that’s all that they can talk about,” he takes a sip of his drink.

Merle chuckles, “Yeah, that’s what happens when you give people a high expectation of yourself,” he takes a sip of his drink then spits it out, “Blegh, what is this, dishwater? You’d think a brewery would have better boose than this,”

The bartender hears this and angrily turns to him, “Hey, cut us some slack, the cops destroyed all our brewing equipment when this whole prohibition shit started, so this bathtub gin is the best we got till we get new equipment,”

Merle rolls his eyes, then he gets an idea, “Hey, Davenport, how would you like some real liqueur?”

Davenport sighs, “I would love a good glass of wine or even a shot of whiskey, unfortunately, I haven’t had any for months,”

“What if I said that I had some at my place?”

“I’d say I’d love to believe you, but I know for a fact that all the alcohol in the whole state was poured down the drain in January, so how exactly would _you_ have any?”

Merle smirks, “Well, let’s just say I’m a bit of a sly devil if you know what I mean,” he winks.

Davenport looks into his true form and his eyes widen, “I see, so I’m guessing that you weren’t just flirting with me when you called me ‘angel’?” 

Merle shrugs, “More or less,”

Davenport thinks for a second then sighs, “Fine, but if you dare try anything, I will smite you.” he says with a fierce look in his eyes.

Merle throws up his hands in a defensive manner, “No tryin’ anythin’, just wanna, you know, ‘share with thy neighbor’ and all that good stuff,” they both pay for their drinks, both leaving generous tips, and Davenport casts a quick blessing that the bar owner will get their equipment back soon, they then get up from their chairs and head for the exit, now that they’re standing up Merle notes that Davenport is a couple of inches shorter than him.

Davenport puts on his coat and hat as they walk, “Should we hail a cab?”

“My place isn’t far,”

* * *

The walk to Merle’s place is quiet, as none of them have much to say, honestly, Davenport is just hoping that he’s not walking into a trap, not that he’s afraid of course, he just doesn’t want to have to tell Gabriel that he got ganged up on by demons because he wanted a drink, Merle stops.

“Here we are!” Merle gestures to the building in front of him.

Davenport looks up and looks confused, he was expecting Merle to take him to a dilapidated house or apartment building in a bad neighborhood, this… is a flower shop, a decently sized two-story green building, the front has double glass doors with a big glass window display step on each side and is covered by a green and white striped awning, above the awning is a beautifully painted sign with the words ‘Highchurch Floral Inc’ surrounded by brightly painted flowers and vines, the second floor has three windows on the front, the one in the middle has a flower box, the building is topped off by a trapezoid roof that appears to be made of glass, Davenport turns to Merle, “Are you...sure this is yours?”

“Pretty damn sure, come on, let's go in,” Merle walks over to the doors, unlocks them, and walks inside, Davenport following, Davenport takes a look around inside and it just looks like a normal flower shop, with display cabinets lining the left and right walls, displays and stands around the shop, and a large counter near the back wall, the only odd thing about it is the lack of flowers, “Sorry for the lack of flowers, I put all the unsold ones in the greenhouse every night after closing, helps them keep fresher longer”

“You have a greenhouse?”

“On the roof, now come on, my apartment’s upstairs,” Merle gesture to the door at the back wall, Davenport walks over, they walk upstairs, Merle unlocks the door to his apartment and the walk-in, Davenport looks around the living room, the walls are covered in a two-tone green leaf print wallpaper and the floor is hardwood, there's a gold and green damask pattern couch, a coffee table with two matching side tables on each end of the couch, coasters, magazines and other miscellaneous things scattered along the tables, under it all is an oddly patterned brown rug, on the right are two doors, most likely leading to the bedrooms, between the doors is a bookshelf filled with books, a few records, some knick-knacks, and a radio, on the left is a walkway and window to the kitchen and a door most likely to the bathroom, the room is also filled with plants, Merle walks to the kitchen, “Make yourself at home, I’ll be right back,” 

Davenport sits on the couch a little awkwardly, it surprisingly comfortable despite how tacky it is, soon enough Merle comes out of the kitchen holding a bottle of wine and two wine glasses, he sits down on the couch, hands Davenport one of the glasses, and opens the bottle, “Sangiovese, bottle date 1900,” he pours Davenport a glass then one for himself.

Davenport takes a long sip and sighs contentedly, “Ah, that's the stuff, so how exactly did you get your hands on this, how you say, illegal contraband?”

Merle looks at him and swirls his glass, “Well, when this whole prohibition thing started, I thought, ‘well this is fuckin’ stupid’, so I tried to find some way to not go along with it, cus, you know, I’ma demon and demons aren’t supposed to follow the rules, then when the cops were pouring all the booze down the sewer, I was like ‘this is my chance,’ so when no one was looking I miracle a few crates to my place,” he takes a sip of his wine before continuing, “I managed to get at least seven crates, mostly wine, but also a couple bottles of whiskey, a _really_ nice bottle of bourbon that I’m saving for a special occasion, three bottles of gin, and two bottles of brandy,” 

Davenport finishes his glass and goes for another round, “Well, thank you for your service for not letting it all go to waste.”

Merle chuckles, “No problem, so whatcha do that got ol’ Gabey upset?”

Davenport sighs, “Ok, so last year I got assigned to watch over this town since there's been a lot of demonic energy around here for a while,” he elbows Merle, “wonder who, anyway, so I’ve been here for a while, getting assignments here and there to help people, then about three of months back I got assigned to help this guy quit drinking, and a couple of days ago, he did!”

“Well, that's great.”

“Yeah, and he was sober for about ten minutes, till he got hit by a car.”

Merle looks at him shocked, “Jesus Crist, was he ok? Did he survive?”

“He did, but not before he was legally dead for like five minutes, I found him at the bar the next day, drunker than I ever saw him before, he just barely managed to tell me that while he was dead he saw hell, and now he was drinking to forget the horrors he saw,” he sighs again and leans back.

Merle chuckles dryly, “Don’t blame the guy, honestly,”

Davenport groans, lean forward, and rest his forehead in his free hand, “You should’ve seen him when I first met him, he had lost his job three years ago which is what led to his alcoholism, so he was spending the rest of his savings on booze and at bars, his wife got fed up with him so she left him and took the kids, he was malnourished and close to death, living in a run-down apartment, and spending almost all day every day at North End,” he stops to drain the rest of his glass and pour himself some more.

Merle listens to him intently, “Jeez, so whatcha do next?”

Davenport starts to sway back and forth, “I *hic* I did what I always do in these assi-assignments, I asked him about his life, I barely needed any prodding for him to spill the beans, and gave-gave him the sympathy he needed, I’m not really g-good with p-people, b-but I am good at being a s-shoulder to cry on, t-then I told him what he n-needed to hear, t-that he n-needs to stop feeling sorry for himself a-and take control of his life, that life will only get worse if he keeps going like this, I got *hic* I got him off the alcohol, got him to start eating better, helped him get a new job at a construction company that was _way_ better than his old office job and helped him to get a new apartment, I w-wasn’t an easy job, we had plenty of fights and I had to empl-employ _a lot_ of tough love, but it was all worth it in the end, then last saturday he came over to my apartment, cleaned up nice and was going to see his ex-wife, hoping to make things work, he w-he wanted to thank me f-for all I d-did for him, then the-then the moment he left the building, BAM, damn farm truck comes out of nowhere and rams right into him going 50 in a 36, knocks him right to the ground, by the time I got to the streets the g-guy that hit him had taken him to the hospital, I-I sent out a blessing that he would make a quick recovery, it apparently worked since he was released yesterday, found him back at North End, worst than ever, he said that he died for a bit and when to hell, and the booze was helping him forget what he saw, he-he also said that life was meaningless now, if he's-if he's going to hell anyway, what's the point in trying, I-I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen, so I just...left him alone,” Davenport ends his tirade and wipes his eyes.

Merle looks at him shocked, “God, I’m…I’m so sorry you had to go through that,”

Davenport sighs, “T-thanks,”

“Guessin’ upstairs wasn’t very happy,”

Davenport’s sadness turns into rage, “Oh, don’t get me _started_ on upstairs, so I told you that I had my monthly evaluation, well, of course, the first and _only_ thing he talked about was _this_ whole mess, he was _lecturing_ me like I was some misbehavin’ _child,_ he kept saying how this should have been an _easy_ job! That this was a job that a low-level _guardian angel_ could have done in a _week_! Just ca-just completely disregarding my three months of work! I m-mean, it was- it wasn’t like-it wasn’t like I just s-snaped my fingers and he was all hunky-dory, I just told him what he needed to hear and gave him the push he needed to realize that he needed so he could fix his own life and supported him through his journey, and if that fuckin’ truck didn’ come he would be completely clean n’ sober n’ happy, but instead e’ll most likely be dead in a week, I spent three. Fuckin’, _Months!_ Tryin’ to get this guy’s life back together, but does Gabriel care? _NOPE_! All he cares is that I failed due to unfor-unforse-unforeseen circumstances, makin’ me feel like I'm a faller of ‘n angel, well what have _you_ done in the past 6000 years, Gabriel? Aside from tellin’ some broad she's pregnant? How ‘bout _you_ get off your ass ‘n _help_ some people ‘n do some _good_ for once in your damned existence!” Davenport ends his rant and takes a deep breath, leaning back on the couch.

Merle chuckles a little, “Tell me how you really feel, skipper,”

Davenport sighs, he notes his glass is empty again and he refills it, finishing the bottle, “So if you wanna know how my week has been, there you go, anyway, I’ve-I’ve talked enough ‘bout me, what ‘bout you, big guy? Howcha get a flower shop?”

Merle finishes off his first glass and gets up to grab another bottle, “Well, ‘bout seven years ago, I got assigned to do a temptation, forgot what for, probably to make some guy cheat on his wife or something,” he opens the cabinet, grabs a bottle, closes the cabinet, then walks back into the living room, “after the job was done I found that I liked this place and decided to stay, so I convinced Beelsabulb that me staying here would help increase the demonic levels on earth or some shit like that,” He sits down on the couch, opens the bottle and pours himself another glass, “I found this place and decided to set up shop, pun intended, I don’t need the money, I just like sharing all the beautiful flowers that I grow,”

“Guessin’ you like plants, huh,”

“Hah, that's an understatement, hell, I _made_ some of them.”

Davenport looks at him astonished, “Really?”

“Yeah, I only made like a handful of them, the rest were made by other angels, it was a group effort, you know. Some I made because I knew it would be beneficial to the ecosystem, others I made because they looked pretty, I was really surprised when the humans started using plants for healing and stuff, seriously, who saw chamomile and jasmine flowers and said to themself ‘ _I’ma dry, boil and drink these bitchs, that oughta be good,’_ ” 

Davenport giggles, “So, why didcha fall?” he asks, in that state of drunkenness that he lacks a filter, he quickly realizes what he said when he sees Merle’s shocked face, “O-oh, I-I’m so sorry, I-I-I didn’t mean to,”

“Naw, naw, naw, it’s ok, I mean you talked about your bad experience, it’s only fair I talk about mine,” Merle takes a long sip of liquid courage, “I wasn’t anythin’ special, just another face in the crowd, but I was fine with that, I was a healer durin’ the war, manly just sitting on the sidelines and helping anyone who was hurt, a lot of other angles called me lazy and a coward for it, but I didn’ care, I’ve never been much of a solder, I meen, I can hold my own in a fight, but when you put me against an army of _way_ stronger angels with flaming swords, I’d be angel dust faster than you can say ‘ _forgive me, Father, for I have sinned,’_ so I stayed out of the way and made myself useful by helping those who needed it,” he takes another sip then turns to Davenport, “What about you, did you fight in the war?”

Davenport nods, “Y-yeah, I-I mean everyone fight in the war in some-in some part, but yeah, I did fight, racked up q-quite the body count too, n-nothing I’m proud of, mind you, but you did whatever you could to survive, you know,”

Merle nods, “So, after the war, things were pretty quiet, I’d go down to earth to check on things, see how my plants were doin’, do a couple miracles, you know, normal angel stuff, things were good for a few millennia, then the ark happened, I just couldn’t wrap my head around it, why would you just wipe out _everything_ you’ve worked so hard on, except some guy and his family plus two of each animal, just because some people were bad? She couldn’t just, I don’t know, use that big, imposing presence of Hers to just tell them to knock it the hell off, and what made Noah and his family so special?” he sighs and shakes his head, “it just never made sense to me, and I made my opinion very vocal, though looking back I shoulda kept my mouth shut, word got around and I got confronted by some Archangels and a couple Seraphs, they...they apparently thought that I was going to start another war, yeah, imagine that a nobody angel like me startin’ a revolution, yeah right, but I guess they were so paranoid that _anyone_ that wasn't 100% onboard with Gods ‘ _ineffable plan’_ was considered a threat, they told me that I would be let off easy if I just confess to what I’ve been planing, I told them I haven't been planing shit but they didn’t believe me so one of the Seraphs snapped his fingers and… I fell.” 

Davenport looks at Merle with a blank stare but is holding onto every word, he sees Merle's hands tighten around the glass and is worried for a moment that the glass might break.

“Fallin’ hurts, by the way,” Merle continues, “the feathers on my wings burned off and it took months for them to grow back, and when they did they came back black, though that wasn’t the only thing that changed, see every demon seems to have an animal or insect or whatever theme to them, and that theme usually affects our physical form, don’t really know how, think it’s just random, anyway, my theme is owl, and let me tell you that took quite a bit to get used to, did you know that owls can’t move their eyes, they’re like tubes, no idea what genius came up with that but if I ever met them I’m gonna give them a good kick in the pants, same with whoever made elderberries and deadly nightshade look the same, anyway I eventually figured out that if I concentrate hard enough I can make my eyes normal, which helps me fit in with humans, 

“But what hurt the most was losing my ability to heal, well technically I still can still heal, but it hurts as much as it helps, so I only uses it when I absolutely need to, I still wanted to help people, even though I really shouldn’t, so I learned to do it the old fashioned way, or new fashioned way as it were, I learned the basics first, of course, how to clean, suture and bandage a wound, but that was just the beginning, I get assignments to all around the world, and every place I would go, I would always make sure to learn at least one thing about their medical practises and wrote all that I learned into journals, China, Egypt and India were the best for studying medicine, and Eurupe, heh, well the less said about that the better, I still have all those journals by the way, though at least half of the info in them is out of date, but hey, that's what happens when medical breakthroughs are being made everyday,” he finishes off his glass, “durin’ the late 1700s, I thought it would be good if I got proper medical training, so I started going to medical school, I went for the full four years and I go back every couple decades or so for at least one or two years,” Merle realises Davenport has been quiet for a while, he turns to him, “You've been quiet for a bit, Dav, did I put you to sleep?”

Davenport tries to sit up, “I-I...I’m” he sighs in frustration, he then takes a deep breath and concentrates, then all the wine he consumed returns to its bottle, he sits up straight and turns to Merle, “Merle, I’m so sorry, it really wasn’t my place to ask, and I’m so that happened to you,”

Merle smiles a bit, “Thanks, though it's no big deal, it happened ages ago,”

“Still, I shouldn’t have brought it up,”

“It's no problem really,” Merle waves it off, though he does appreciate Davenport’s genuine sympathy and comfort, you don’t get much of that in hell, “and besides, being a demon ain't all bad, I can turn into an owl whenever I want, so that's cool, plus most of my jobs are just sleeping with other people,”

“Oh, that's interesting, so it’s true what they say that demons can sense lust?”

“Well not _all_ of them, see just like how demons are given an animal theme, they’re also given a sin to represent, and those sins often influence what assignment they get, for instance, a wrath demon will influence someone to take revenge into their own hands, a lust demon like myself will sleep with other people, ether to just cheat on their spouse or to cause a scandal, an envy demon will make someone jealous of someone else, etcetera etcetera,”

“Guess your job’s a fun one, huh?” 

“It is a bit, but after a while bangin’ random people get a bit...lonely, you know, people always coming and going,” Merle chuckles, “coming, get it?” he nudges Davenport who groans in disgust, “and seriously, does _no one_ these days know how to _cuddle_ anymore? Usually, they just leave right after it going on about how much of a mistake it was and if they could ever be forgiven, yeah, should have thought about that before you banged some random guy you met at a bar, what's done cannot be undone and all that,” Merle sighs.

Davenport giggles a little, then his tone gets a little serious, “So, everything you do is consensual, right?

Merle looks at him a little offended, “Of course, I always make sure I get one hundred present consent before I do anything to anyone, trust me, Dav, I’m a demon, not a monster,”

Davenport sighs in relief, “That's good to hear, I’ve heard some bad stories,”

“Trust me, I’ve met those kinds of demons that take _pride_ in doing that kind of stuff, and they’re as disgusting as they sound,” Merle shakes his head, “but, yeah, I always make sure to get permission before anything, you’d be surprised with how many people back out of it before we even do anything past kissing, which is fine, they either leave immediately or we have a small chat about it, honestly the worst part of the job is when the spouse comes home early, best-case scenario, I have enough time to either a. sneak under the bed and wait till they go to sleep so I can sneak out or b. jump out the window, worst case scenario the spouse burst into the room and I have to either deal with a screaming wife or almost get my lights punched out by an angry husband, and in those situations, I’m mostly focused on gettin’ my ass out of there before things get dirty, but other than all that, it's a fun job.”

Davenport chuckles quietly, he looks over to the clock on the side table and gasps when he sees its past midnight, “Oh jeez, it’s so late, I need to get home,” he gets up from the couch and walks over to the door, before he opens the door he turns to Merle, “Thank you for the wine Merle,” he pauses for a second, “and for listening to my drunk rant, I...I’ve really have had a long week and I really needed to get that off of my chest,”

Merle smiles, “No problem, Dav, and hey, I got plenty more liquor where that came from, so if you ever need a drink, or to vent, or both, my doors always open, figuratively of course,”

Davenport smiles back, “I’d like that,” with that he leaves the apartment.

Once Davenport leves, Merle lays down on the couch, covers his eyes, and groans, he was supposed to make _this_ guy fall, he’s never made an angel fall before, of course, the obvious way would be to sleep with him, but Davenport doesn't seem like the type of guy to sleep with some random guy he met at a bar, (hell, he was surprised he even came to his apartment in the first place,) plus Davenport already knows he's a demon which is going to make things harder, what's also going to make things harder is that he doesn't _want_ to make him fall, he’s nice, genuinely nice, not that fake nice he gets from other people and angels (mostly angels) who are trying to present themselves as good people instead of actually putting the effort into being a good person, he gave him genuine sympathy after hearing his story instead of pity or the good ol’ ‘just get over it, it happened eons ago, we all got issues,’ he gets from other demons. 

Davenport also wasn’t afraid of him despite knowing that he’s a demon, but it’s not because he’s dumb or gullible or anything, sure he doesn’t know _why_ he trusted him, hell he doesn’t even know if he _does_ trust him, he probably just came for the free booze and knew that if Merle tried anything he could easily take him down, angels are stronger than demons after all, even if Merle was physically stronger than Davenport, he’s strong in will and in character, and despite him only being about 4’10, he carries himself with the same confidence of someone who was 6’0 tall, and the nail on the coffin, Davenport actually _does his job_ , and he seems to _like_ his job at that, Merle has met so many angles, both before and after the fall, that treated helping people like an inconvenience or a chore, like taking out the trash or doing the dishes, hell, even he’s guilty of doing the same thing, but Davnport, he spent three months just to help some guy he didn’t even know prior with his alcoholism, most of the angels he use to know would give up after three _days_ , let alone three _mounths_ , heaven needs more angles like him, angels that were more focus on makeing the world a better place and weren’t so obsessed with defeating hell, he’s never gotten heaven and hells whole ‘evil must triumph over good’ or whatever, one of the many things he’s learnd over the many centuries of travaling all around the earth is that good can not exist with out evil, but, hey, thats none of his business.

His hands fall to his chest and he sighs, he wonders if he’ll ever see Davenport again, sure they live in the same town so they’re bound to bump into each other, plus he’s probably the only guy in the entire state with good alcohol, but if he was being honest, he didn’t want Davenport to only hang out with him because he has hooch, as weird as it sounds, plus he's pretty sure Prohibition is going to end in a decade or so, (at least he hopes so), as sad as it must sound, especially coming from a demon, but all Merle really wants out of Davenport is a friend, he wasn’t lying when he told Davenport that sleeping with random people gets lonely, plus he’s never gotten along with other demons, especially since all they want to talk about is all the sins they've committed which gets rather boring after awhile, he’s had plenty of human friends, sure, but they often don’t stick around past two or three years and those who do, well, humans don’t exactly live long in the eyes of an immortal.

But whether or not Davenport will hang out with him would not be his biggest problem if he doesn't corrupt him.

No, the biggest problem for him will be Hell, if he tells his boss that he’s not going to do his job he will definitely get reprimanded for it, less of a stern talking to, more of a couple of centuries in pain and torment, and that will not be good. Although when he comes to think about it, he doesn't _have_ to tell his boss, he could easily just tell them that the job is going to take a long time, after all, corrupting an angel isn’t exactly easy, and Merle has never exactly been a competent demon, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the job took a while, so if he plays his cards right, he could convince his boss and the other demons that he’s still working on his assignment when he’s not, and hopefully, they’ll either just forget or just stop caring, and he’ll continue to hang out with Davenport, or just let him go about his life.

Merle yawns and decides to go to bed, deciding that that's a problem for tomorrow.

* * *

Davenport closes the door to his apartment behind him and sighs, leaning against the door, did he seriously just follow some random stranger he met at a bar (a random _demon_ he met at a bar at that) to his place for the promise of liquor? Like some kid following a creepy old man who says he has candy? Merle could have been leading him to some back alley where a legion of demons were waiting for him, which would be no good, one demon he can handle easily, two he’d have trouble with but could still handle, three or more and things would get messy, 

But the thing is Merle _didn’t_ lead him to a trap, he actually took him to his home, his rather lovely and comfortable home that was also a damn _flower shop_ , and he actually delivered with the booze, _and_ he didn’t try anything when he was wasted, _and_ , just to hit the nail on the coffin, he actually _listened_ to his drunken rant, and actually seem to care, too. Davenport rarely has the time to vent out his frustrations, and when he does it either to himself or disinterested bartenders that are just hoping for a tip, another time he tries to voice his frustrations or someone they ether brush him off or tell him to ‘get over it,’ or ‘be a man’ or ‘people have it worse than you,’ and other garbage like that, but Merle actually listened to him, and at no point did he interrupt him or tell him that he's overreacting, he just let Davenport talk and gave him sympathy when he needed it. The first time he’s gotten something like that from someone in over 5,000 years, and it's from a demon, Davenport sighs again, ‘ _I guess it's true what they say_ ,’ he thinks to himself, ‘ _you can't judge a book by its cover’,_ he shakes his head, walks over to his couch, and sits.

He hopes he’ll see Merle again, he knows where he lives and since they live in the same town they’re bound to run into each other, plus Merle seemed to want to see him again, and he definitely wants to see him too. Not just because he has booze, (though that was a plus), he wants to see Merle because, well, because he like him, he just so kind and sincere and charming, (and, low-key, kinda handsome,) he doesn't see that in most demons, hell, he doesn't see that in most angels really, and he liked being around him, even if it was for a short time, and he _wants_ to be around him more, even though he knows heaven will disapprove.

Oh lord, Davenport didn’t even think about that, how would heaven react if they found out that one of their own was fraternizing with a demon? What would they do to him? And more importantly, what would they do to Merle? If heaven were to ever find out about their interactions, they would most likely assume that Merle had tempted him, and if they blamed Merle who knows what they’d do to him, they could hurt him, or worse. Davenport couldn't live with himself if Merle got hurt because of him.

Although, Davenport slowly realizes, heaven doesn't _have_ to know, it's not like it’ll come up in his next evaluation, and if they _do_ find out he could just say that he's keeping an eye on him to make sure he stays out of trouble, though if he plays his cards right they won’t find out about Merle at all.

Davenport yawns and remembers how late it is, he gets up from the couch and heads to the bathroom to get ready for bed, deciding to figure this out tomorrow.


	2. At The Ball

**April 18th, 1941**

Davenport leans against the wall in the ballroom, holding a flute of champagne and wearing a rather fancy tuxedo, he’s not really the type to attend a debutante ball, nor does he hang around those circle, but he got assigned to prevent a scandal from happening, so he put on his nicest tux and miracles his name on the guest list and here he is, scanning the crowd for any suspicious behavior and more than a little bored, he tried mingling with others, but all these people want to talk about is how rich they are or their vacation or how Malinda Godson is having an affair with the butler and that the youngest Marley daughter is marrying a poor boy, stuff he couldn’t care less for, so he’s just hanging out by the wall, drinking his second champagne and waiting to make his move, as he scans the crowd for the umpteenth time, he’s surprised when a familiar face catches his eye, looking rather sharp an emerald green tux and wearing a little flower clip in his hair, Merle is standing in the ballroom, one hand in his pocket the other holding a champagne flute and looking as bored as he does, as he’s looking around the room he takes a double take when he sees Davenport, he smiles and walks over to him.

“Well, fancy seeing you here, skipper,” Merle says to him.

“Could say the same to you,” Davenport replies back, “No offense, but you never exactly pegged me for the type to go to these kinds of parties,”

“I’m not, but I got invited so here I am,” Merle says as he leans against the wall next to Davenport.

“Now, how the hell did you get invited to something like this?”

“Well, last week, some girl ran into my shop and hid behind the counter, before I could even ask what she was doing there a bunch of guys burst in, the one in front said that he was looking for his sister and that they saw her run in, I could smell the bs a mile away so I told them I hadn’t seen her and to leave, eventually they left and when I knew they were gone I told the girl the coast was clear, she had a small panic attack but she calmed down and I walked her home, turned out she was some millionaire daughter and as a way to repay me she invited me to her ball, so here I am, even though this ain’t exactly my scene,” Merle finishes his story with a sip of his champagne.

Davenport looks at his friend in awe, “Wow, that’s amazing, Merle, and quite un-demon like of you,” 

Merle shrugs, “Yeah, you know, whatever, so how come your here,”

Davenport side-eyes him, “That is classified information,”

“Fair enough,” Merle takes another sip, “So how you’ve been, I know we haven’t seen each over in a while,”

Davenport hums, Merle isn’t wrong, they haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks, mainly due to work, “Yeah, I’ve been good, though I’ve been really busy, mostly due to this dumb war,” he lets out a frustrated sigh, “seriously, they just  _ had _ a war not 20 years ago,  _ and  _ just got over a depression, now they’re having  _ another  _ one,” he grans in annoyance.

Merle chuckles, “Yeah, at least we’re waiting a few millennia before having another war,”

Davenport rolls his eyes, “So, how have you been, besides saving rich girls, of course?”

“Good too, but busy, its prom season so the shop’s been a bit hectic,” he sighs, “as usual, I’ve gotta make like five different prom queen bouquets, a shitton of corsages, and don’t even get me  _ started  _ on all the decoration,”

Davenport just smiles and nods as Merle talks, even though he’s heard this rant a million times, as he continues to watch the crowd, paying close attention to a particularly suspicious pair of men, they were both walking around the party trying to look capsule but falling, one of them was tall and lanky, the other short and stocky, they both have scraggly hair, the tall ones is shoulder length and black, while the short ones is ear length and brown, and they’re wearing the dirtiest tuxedos Davenport has ever seen, how they ever got into the party he’ll never know.

Merle notices him staring off into space and nudges him, “Hey, you listening to me?”

Davenport jumps, “O-oh, of course, sorry I must have gotten lost in my thoughts,”

Merle chuckles, “Hey, chill Dav, I’m just pulling your leg,” he takes another sip, “so, how’ve you been enjoying the party?”

Davenport shrugs, “It’s ok, though rather dull, I must say,”

Merle chuckles again, "What, don’t  _ you  _ enjoy hearing about the Dottsons’ new boat ?”

Davenport groans, “Ugh, don’t even get me started on that boat, you know when they started talking about the boat I was hoping they talk about how fun sailing is, but all they want to talk about is how expensive it was, or all the fancy bits and bobs it has without really understanding what it means, ” he sighs, “you know that boat is never going to leave harbor, they’ll maybe have a party on it once or twice but it’ll just sit there at the dock only to serve as another sign of they’re immense wealth, bet they’ve never actually sailed before, never felt the wind in their hair and the sun on their skin or grown to love the smell of salt water, or gotten rope or sunburn on their hands or face or body,”

Merle smiles softly as Davenport talks, he always loves when Davenport talks about what he’s passionate about, doesn’t matter if it’s sailing, or astrology, or why he prefers one type of wine to another, or how he’s been learning how to those silly little magic tricks that birthday party magicians do (even though he can do actual magic,) no matter what he’s talking about, he loves the way his face lights up and his gorgeous green eyes sparkles and his hands moves around as he talks, he nudges him, “An’ you know all about that, don’tcha Captain Red Beard?”

Davenport chuckles and blushes, remembering when he told Merle about that time during the 15th century when he was the caption of a motley crew of pirates, Merle didn’t believe him at first until he showed him the pictures, his hair and beard was longer and done in intricate brides but Merle could tell it was him, “Yes, well,”

Suddenly they heard the sound of a fork hitting the top of a glass, “Ladies and gentleman, I do hope you are all enjoying the party tonight, but hopefully not too much,” the partygoers laugh dryly, “tonight is the night that our sons and daughters are being introduced to society, from boys and girls to men and women, and hopefully here they’ll meet their future wives and husbands, everyone, please gather at the dance floor with your sweethearts and enjoy dancing the rest of the night away,” the man who was speaking puts his glass down as the party-goers gather at the dance floor all in sets of two, the conductor taps his baton three times and the band starts playing as the everyone starts dancing almost in sync.

As the angel and demon watch as they all dance, Davenport begins to internally panics, him talking to Merle and the dancing made him lose track of the suspicion pair he was watching, he really doesn’t want to fail another mission, Gabriel still hasn’t let him forget about the incident in 1919, if it happens again he’d get way more than a warning this time, in the corner of his eye he sees Merle place his glass on the windowsill, he then sees him walk in front of him and holds his hand in front of him, Davenport looks at him quizzically, “What are you doing?”

“Let’s dance.”

“What?”

“Lets dance, everyone else is dancing, why should we be left out,”

Davenport looks down, “I, I don’t know, I don’t know how, plus angels aren’t supposed to dance.”

Merle chuckles, “Angels ain’t supposed to hang out with demons ether, and it’s not like its rocket science or anything, sure a smarty pants like you can figure it out quick,”

Davenport thinks about it for a second, on one hand, he really needs to find those two men and he doesn’t need any more distractions,(and he has the possibility to embarrass him himself), on the other hand, if he dances, he might find them through the crowd of constantly moving people, he sucks up his pride, drains the rest of his glass, places it next to Merles, and takes Merle’s hand.

Merle grins and pulls the angel closer, he puts Davenports left hand on his left shoulder and wraps his left arm around Davenport’s waist, “Just make a box with your feet, and move to the beat,” Merle leads them as they move left and right and back and forth, Davenport quickly gets used to it and begins moving in sync with Merle, Merle starts leading them so their dancing in a circle along with the other dancers, Davenport has never been this close to Merle before, usually the closes they would get would be sitting next to each other on the couch or at the bar, but now, as they were flush together, with Merle holding his hand and his other hand around his waist, it should be to close for comfort, but he's genuinely surprised how comfortable he feels this close to the demon, Merle spins the angel and holds him at arm's length then pulls him back, Davenport follows each step surprisingly well for someone that doesn't dance, not once missing a step or stepping on Merle’s feet, “See, you’re a natural,”

Davenport smiles softly, “Well, I’ve always had a natural sense of timing, you’re really good at this, by the way,”

“I don’t just go to school to learn medicine you know, sometimes I minor in dance, though I usually minor in botany,” 

“Shock of all shocks,” Davenport teases, 

“Honestly, you should take some lessons sometime,”

“Eh, I don’t really think so, dancing's never really been my thing, although I have been considering taking opera training, you know, whenever I’m not swamped with work,”

“You should, you have a beautiful singing voice,”

Davenport blushes, it's not the first time he’s heard Merle has said this, he’s sung around him before and Merle’s never been shy about peppering him with compliments, but it always manages to take him off guard, “Well, thank you, but that's still a maybe, I never have time for stuff like that, plus Gabriel would see it as a waste of time,” he says, reminding himself to keep his eye on the crowd.

Merle rolls his eyes, “Oh, who cares about what Gabriel thinks, what you do in your spare time is none of his business,”

“I know, but you know how Gabriel is, anything that isn’t work related is a waste of time to him, and he’s not afraid to make his opinion about it know,”

“Again, who cares, it’s none of his business, look, I’m not the best at giving advice, but you shouldn't sacrifice your own happiness just because you're worried about what other people think, and if singing is what makes you happy, then so be it.” 

Davenport looks at him and smiles softly, “You know, no one’s ever put it like that.”

Merle smiles back, a little cheeky, “Plus, I’m sure Gabe didn’t approve of you being a pirate, or when you spent three months as a horse racing jockey, or when you joined a research team to find Atlantis and damn near got yourself discorporated…”

“Okay, okay, you made your point,” Davenport says with a giggle, “You know, I think you’re becoming a bad influence on me,” 

Merle smirks, “Maybe, or maybe I’m just the right kind of influence,” Merle twirls Davenport again and pulls him close so they’re back to chest.

Davenport’s smile drops when he sees the suspicious pair he’s been watching sneak into a hallway, most likely leading to an office or bedroom, in his shock he accidentally steps on Merle's foot.

“Ow!”

Davenport turns around to face Merle, “S-sorry, I’m so sorry but I have to go,” he says, more than a little disappointed having to leave, he turns to leave but then turns back, “It was wonderful to see you again, Merle, if you're free tomorrow, would you mind joining me at North End for lunch?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Merle says with a smile.

Davenport smiles back, then turns back around and runs in the direction of the hallway, trying his best to avoid other people and drawing attention to himself as his smile turns into a look of determination, dancing with Merle was wonderful, but now, it's Showtime. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I know this isn't as good or long as the first chapter, but I did my best, and I hope you enjoyed it, this story is my main priority but I am working on a few WIP that I've left to the wayside and I'm working on something for the 2020 Taz Candlenights Gift Exchange. 
> 
> Next chapter will take place in the 50s, but until next time, stay cool!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Minor homophobia and censored slur.

**May 26, 1959**

Merle sweeps around the shop while humming along to the radio, it's a slow day and there aren't any customers in, so he's taking the time to clean, when suddenly he hears a loud horn outside, he looks and sees a red car outside of the shop, he puts down the broom and walks to the front of the store, the car very nice, long and sleek in a beautiful shade of red with chrome lining and a tan roof, clearly one of those new fangle convertibles, it has long fin-like protrusions coming out of the back and a whole lot of lights, Merle counted at least twelve, eight on the front and four on the back, it looks brand new or at least well taken care of, probably owned by some hotshot with way too much time and money on his hands, Merle rolls his eyes and opens the door, “Hey fancy boy, ether come into the store or move your car, this is a business, not a parking lot,”

He hears the driver’s side door open and sees someone come out of the car.

“Knew that would get your attention,” Davenport says as he leaves the car, adjusting his leather jacket and wearing the biggest smile Merle has ever seen on him, Merle was pleasantly surprised when the angel had taken to the greaser fashion of the decade, currently wearing a black leather jacket over a white T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black combat boots, and his usually slicked back hair is now in a pompadour, this is his usual look, rarely changing it up aside from a different shirt or switching out the leather jacket with his favorite red aviator jacket he got from an air show in ‘52, and a stark contrast to Merles own fashion sense of button-ups and khakis, 

Merle chuckles and walks out of the shop, “Shoulda guessed it was you, cool car you got there, whose is it?”

Davenport rolls his eyes, “As it just so happens, it’s mine, I just bought it today fresh off the belt, Oh, and look how cool it is! All sleek and beautiful made of aluminum and chrome! And it’s even better under the hood, 345 horsepower and can go up to 130 miles per hour, it's got an air suspension, and god did you hear that horn!?”

Merle nods his head pretending he understands, he's always loved when Davenport talks about something he loves, but this is the most excited he's ever seen the angel, with a smile brighter than any star and talking 100mph, “So I take it you like the car,”

“You have no idea, so, wanna go for a ride?”

“Sure, why not,” Merle snaps his fingers, and the door clicks and his apron is off, “It's a slow day anyway,” Merle walks over the passenger side door and hops in as Davenport walks to the other side and climbs into the driver’s side, “So, where we going, maybe drop by make-out point,” Davenport playfully smack him on the arm, “Kidding, kidding,”

The angel shakes his head, “I wasn’t thinking of anywhere specific, just thought we’d, you know, drive around and see where it takes us,”

Merle smiles, “Yeah, I like the sound of that,”

Davenport starts the car, feeling the motor purr beautifully as he pulls out of his parking space and drives down the road, he turns on the radio and the sound of Bill Haley and The Saddlemen fill the car.

The first few minutes of the drive is a comfortable silence, Davenport focuses on the road whale Merle looks out the window as the radio plays, “So, what do you think of her?” 

“She’s pretty cool, must’ve cost a fortune,”

“Yeah, though when you can make money out of nothing a price is just a number,” 

“Heh, true that.”

“Oh, check this out,” Davenport presses a button above the windshield, and the roof and windows roll down revealing the bright blue sky and late afternoon sun. 

They stop at a red light, a second later another car parks next to them, same car as Davenports but this one was yellow with a black stripe from hood to tail and being driven by a young man, next to him in the passenger seat is a woman, possibly his girlfriend, and in the back is another man and woman, the driver turns his head and sees Davenport, “Hey oldtimer, ain’t you supposed to be at the old folks home?”

Davenport smirks, “I don’t know, kiddo, isn’t it past your curfew?”

“Oh, so you’re a wise guy, huh, well tell you what, I just got this baby today, what do you say to helping me break it in with a little race?” the other driver says cockily.

Davenport looks a little concerned, “I don’t know, that sounds a little dangerous,”

“Aw, what’s wrong old man, you and that ugly f*g of yours afraid of a little competition?”

Davenport’s eyes widened, “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

The young man in the back seat rises up, “He said you and your boyfriend are a couple of pussys!” the other three laugh like it was the funniest joke ever.

Davenport’s face turns from shock to anger, he sees Merle out of the corner of his eye, clearly upset but trying not to show it, and the angel’s rage begins to rise, he bucks his seatbelt “Alright, let do this,” 

Merle turns to Davenport, “Come on Dav, you don’t have to do this,”

The light turns yellow, “I know, but it’s happening anyway, now buckle up and hold on,” Merle dose’s as he’s told as Davenport puts the top and windows back up, his left hand on the wheel and his right hand on the gear stick, the two drivers wait in anticipation for the light to turn green.

The light turns green and they’re off, Davenport puts the stick in drive and stomps at the gas as both cars start driving as fast as possible, he puts his right hand back on the wheel and keeps his eyes dead set focus on the road, only looking away to see his competition, they were both neck and neck, they turn the corner and Davenport fall back a bit as to not crash, but he catches up quickly, in the corner of his eye he sees the man talk but he can’t hear him, he rolls down the window, “What!”

“I said you're falling back, old man!”

“Oh, trust me, kid, I’m just getting started!”

They continue for a few more miles, shifting between first and second place, eventually, the girl in the passenger seat speaks up, “Johnny, you’re going too fast! What if we crash?!”

“We ain’t gonna crash, babe, I know what I’m doing!”

Hearing this make Davenport realize how dangerous this was getting, he also notices that none of the passengers in the other car are wearing seatbelts, making the event of a crash deadlier, he leans out of the window a little, “Hey, this was a stupid idea in the first place, but this is getting dangerous, so how about we call this a draw!?”

“Hah, I know what you’re up to old man, but you ain’t fooling me!”

Not a second later, Davenport sees a sign that says ‘Construction Work Ahead’ on the side of the road, “Hold on, Merle!” he says as he slams on the brakes, there's a horrible screeching metal sound as the car stops in its tracks, Davenport see the yellow car still driving, the driver seemingly unfazed while his friends start to freak out as they realize the danger that their in as they’re fastly approaching the construction site, Davenport quickly snaps his fingers and the car stops inches away from the construction, the angle breathes a sigh of relief, he then turns to his friend, “You alright, Merle?”

The aforementioned daemon breathes heavily as he tries to regain his baring, his hands on the seat belt, his glasses slightly  askew , and his back as far into the car seat as it can go, “Y-yeah, yeah I’m, I’m good,” he puts a slightly shaky hand on Davenport’s shoulder, “P-promise me y-you’ll never do that again,”

The angle nods, “Yeah, I promise.”

Merle sighs in relief “good,” they both see the other car and its passengers still there, the young man appearing to be trying to get the car to start again, with his other slightly shaky hand, Merle snaps his fingers and a cop car suddenly drives up to the car, Davenport turns to Merle who just shrugs, “Karmic justice,” the officer gets out of his car and tells the four kids to get out of the car, they do and the cop starts to question them, Davenport decides that he’s seen enough, he turns the car back on, turns it around and drives off.

A few minutes later and Merle has fully calmed down, “Feel better?” Davenport askes.

Merle sighs, “Yeah, I'm good, Christ, I can’t believe you actually  _ did  _ that, didn’t think you had it in you,”

“Heh, yeah, didn’t think so either, but I just couldn't let him get away with saying what he said to you,” 

“You didn’t have to do that, Dav, I've heard way worse than that, I’m used to it,”

“You shouldn't be,” Davenport says as he turns a corner, “Nobody deserves that kind of abuse, especially you,” 

“Demon, remember,”

“Still, your a good guy, Merle, and what that cocky whippersnapper said was just wrong,”

Merle chuckles, “Well, thanks for defending my honor,” he smiles softly, “And for what you said,”

“No problem,”

As they drive for a few more hours, enjoying the sights and each other's company, the sky turns pink and orange as the sun goes down, and soon the stars and moon come out as the sky turns black and blue.

* * *

The two are parked at the edge of town, laying on top of the hood of the car watching the stars as the radio plays, Davenport swung by the drive-thru earlier for dinner (they don’t need to eat, being ethereal beings, but they enjoy it anyway,) the angel point to the sky, “Oh, look Merle, Orion's out, see those three stars, then the two stars below them, then the three stars above?”

“Mhm,” Merle says through a bite of burger, “you make that one?” he says after swallowing.

Davenport shakes his head, “No, I was never that high ranking to have made any of them, my job was mostly sea life, I actually came up with the idea for the Kraken,”

Merle chuckles, “Wait, really?”

“Well, back when I first saw a squid, I told the guy, ‘Hey, what if there was a giant version of this just roaming around the ocean’, then in the 12th century I was in the Netherlands and heard stories of a squid of monsters proportions that's supposedly been sinking ships, of course it could have just been a coincidence, but still,”

Merle smiles, “No wonder you took a liking to it,” he says, gesturing to the angles covered bicep where an old tattoo of an anchor wrapped by giant tentacles is.

Davenport smiles back, then looks back at the sky, pulling his knees to his chest, “I didn’t make any of them, but I’ve always loved the stars, their just so beautiful, and so important, so many sailors have used them to guide themselves home, and many have written stories and even created mythologies on them,” he picks up his cup and takes a sip of his coke, “they’ve inspired so many people, and have influenced so many to strive for a brighter future, they've already put a man in space and now they’re playing to put one on the moon, can you imagine?”

Merle smiles loving at Davenport, he’s heard many different version of this monologue, and he never gets tired of it, the first time he remembers Davenport doing this he stopped and apologized for rambling, but Merle reassured him that he liked hearing him talk, suddenly, as Merle is finishing his burger, he hears Davenport sighs, he sees him staring off into space lost in his own thoughts, he sighs again and lays down with his arms behind his head.

“Merle, do you think I’m a bad angel?” Davenport asks.

Merle turns to him, “What, of course not, you’re an amazing angel, probably the best I’ve ever met!” he reassures him, “Jesus, where did this even come from?”

Davenport looks down, “Its, its nothing, just forget I said anything,”

“No, what got you thinking that?”

Davenport stays silent.

“Is it Gabrel?”

Davenport sighs, “Yesterday, I had to go to the office for an assignment I’ll be working on soon, when I left, Gabrel notecet the brochure for the car in my pocket, he asked about it and I told him about it and I told him I was planning on buying one, then he started basically  _ lecturing _ me on how all my earthly possessions and interests were interfering with my work, which isn’t too unusual for him, but then he started to go off on how that's the cause of ‘all my recent failures’, whitch, first of all, in my entire over 5,000 year existence, I’ve only ever had  _ one _ failed mission, and it was completely out of my controle, and second of all, my failure has nothing to due with my ‘earthly possessions and interests’, and god he is such a hypocrite, I know he gets his clothes professionally tailored and I’ve seen him reading fashion magazines, if he can have interests outside of work, then why can’t I?”

Merle shakes his head, “People can be like that sometimes, hell, just last week at the grocery store I overheard the town pastor talking to some boys and telling them not to indulge in their new urges and desires, next day I saw him at the strip club,”

This gets a small laugh out of the currently melancholy angel, “Wait, really?”

“Yep, just tossing bills at girls, and that man doesn't make shit so that money probably came from the charity box,”

Davenport sucks in his teeth, “Yesh”

“Yeah, made sure to cause him so that something bad will happen to him, nothing deadly but you know, it's the mentality of ‘it’s only ok if I’m doing it, but if someone else does it it's wrong,’ lucky we're smart enough to see through that bull shit.”

This makes Davenport smile, but as soon as it arrives it falls, “It just got me thinking, am I really a good angel? I just, I don’t know, I know I said I’ve only had one failed mission, but I’ve had so many close calls, so many times that the mission almost when south or times that I almost got discorporated, and there's so many un-angle things I’ve done, like spending ten years as a pirate caption, or befriending you,”

“Hey,”

“No offense, but I’m sure that befriending a demon was the worst thing I could have done as an angel, and you’ve influenced me to do a lot of things that Gabrel disapproves of, please don't get me wrong, I very much value our friendship, but, I don’t know, I’m probably just being ridiculous,”

Merle lays there in silence for a few moments, then he rolls on his side, “So you've made a few mistakes, so what, I’m sure plenty of angels have messed up a mission or two before, that doesn't erase all the good you’ve done, and you’ve done so much good, hell I bet you’ve done more good then a hundred different angels,” Merle says.

Davenport rolls to his side to face Merle, “You really think so?”

“I know so,” Merle says, “your amazing, Dav, and smart and sweet and gor,” he stops himself from saying ‘gorgeous’, “great, just great, and whatever that square says won’t change anything, and hell, even if you are a bad angel, at least you're a good person,”

Davenport smiles softly, “Thank you, Merle, and you’re a good person too,”

“Hey, I’m a demon, I’m not supposed to be good,”

He giggles, “Ah yes, an evil demon that does such diabolical things like opening a community garden in your own yard,”

“An illegal community garden, which means that everyone that uses it is breaking the law,”

“And whos gave out more flowers then he’s sold,”

“They technically took them without buying them so technically they shoplifted them, again, breaking the law,”

“And who punishes people who deserve it,”

“Brought misfortune to innocent people,”

“And who’s encouraged me to try new things like opera or boxing,”

“Encouraging you to rebel,”

Davenport giggles again and rolls on his back, his hands resting on his chest, “Yeah, so evil and diabolical,”

Merle chuckles and rolls on his back with his arms behind his head, they lay there in comfortable silence for a while, the late spring air is warm and the sky is so beautiful, the soft sound of a guitar starts to play as another song starts to play on the radio.

_ ~I don't want to set the world on fire _

_ I just want to start a flame in your heart _

_ In my heart I have but one desire _

_ And that one is you _

_ No other will do~ _

Merle has heard this song many times before, but on this night the lyrics really hit him. Merle isn’t what you would call a good demon, he’s screwed up more than half of the missions that he's been assigned to, even though he tries to complete them as adequate as possible, whether out of his own incompetence or his conches getting the better of him, he’s known around Hell for being shit at his job, which is why he always gets assigned the easy jobs, ‘sleep with this guy, sleep with this girl, maybe cause a scandal,’ basic stuff and even then he’s messed some up, so the fact that he got assigned to corrupted an angel dispute all of his past screw ups he’ll never get, and of course the angel he gets assigned to is the best damn angel he’s ever met, the same angel that's been his friend for the past 40 years, the same angel that should have smited him when they first met, but, for whatever reason, he didn’t, and he stuck around, something that Merle is truly grateful for, even though he knows he doesn't deserve it.

_ ~I've lost all ambition for worldly acclaim _

_ I just want to be the one you love _

_ And with your admission that you feel the same _

_ I'll have reached the goal I'm dreaming of _

_ Believe me _

_ I don't want to set the world on fire _

_ I just want to start a flame in your heart~ _

But there's a selfish part of him that wants more, more than just friendship, hell more than just sex, he wanted something real, he wants to hold the angel’s hand, call each other pet names, tell him sweet nothings, maybe even kiss him, the kinda things he sees other people do and pretends to gag at for being sappy and gross but secretly yearns for.

But Merle knows that Davenport would never want that, not with him at least, so he just has to be grateful for what they have now, they have a good thing going on and Merle's happy about that, no need to ruin a good thing.

“It's getting late, we should get back,” Merle is pulled out of his thoughts when Davenport speaks up.

“Yeah, we should,” Merle says, a little disappointed, they finish off their food, throw away their trash, get back in the car, and drive off. It takes about a half-hour before getting back to the shop, Davenport parks in front and Merle opens the passenger door and walks around the car to the driver’s side, “I had a really nice time tonight, Dav,” he says.

“Me too, Merle,” Davenport says, “And thank you for what you said earlier, you really meant it right?”

“Every word,”

He smiles softly, “Well, thank you again, it means a lot to me,”

“No problem, Dav, you get home safe, ok?”

“Of course, good night Merle,”

“Night Skipper,” Merle says, then Davenport turns the car back on and drives off, Merle smiles, turns and walks back to the shop, a little disappointed that the night had to end but happy that it happened anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it, this took less time than chapter two despite being longer, odd right?
> 
> I honestly learned more about a 1959 Cadilac Elerodo than I ever wanted to,(also if you want a quick laugh, look up a motorcycle from 1909, it's amazing.)
> 
> Anyway, next chapter will be in the 60s, but until next time, dudes and dudets, stay cool.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoy my TAZ/Good Omens crossover AU fic that no one asked for but I made anyway, this took over 3 months to write, and its the longest single chapter I've ever written, I've just started the 2nd chapter that'll take place in the '40s, anyway, check out my tumbler at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fluttershyfan12345 and my Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/fifinostalgia/?hl=en, comments and kudos fuel me, and until next time, dudes and dudettes, stay cool.


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